Paul Sandrock, Associate Director for Professional Development at the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), previously served at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction as Assistant Director heading that state's implementation of Common Core State Standards and as state consultant for world languages. Paul taught Spanish for 16 years in middle school and high school and authored The Keys to Assessing Language PerformanceandPlanning Curriculum for Learning World Languages.

Building Our Common Core: Creating World-Ready Students
World languages are an excellent means to help students achieve the literacy skills of the Common Core State Standards – when we teach and assess world languages as envisioned by our common standards for language learning (focusing on the three modes of communication in meaningful and engaging contexts). The 21st Century Skills Map for World Languages also helps us design instruction to provide our students with critical skills while developing their ability to communicate in another language. Languages add value to help students be college-, career-, and world-ready.